Biocompatible pressure-sensitive diaphragms for medical implants

Abstract:
Pressures in the human body are important parameters that can give doctors essential information about a patient's health status or the progression of diseases. Therefore, the development of implantable pressure-measuring medical implants is an important element for the improvement of medical diagnostics. Conventional pressure sensors (e.g., piezoresistive or capacitive) present challenges due to the use of non-biocompatible materials or a limited miniaturisability. This paper demonstrates biocompatible pressure-sensitive titanium diaphragms. The titanium diaphragms are directly functionalized with nanogranular tunneling resistors, which we use as strain sensors. The results show that these pressure-sensitive membranes provide a promising approach for medical implants.